Why Isn’t Austin Considering a Subway?

After Jude Galligan visited inside the Waller Creek Tunnel on a council sponsored trip, he asked the provocative question on his blog.

Galligan reports that a contractor said, “Austin’s limestone is [actually] perfectly suited for mining a subway tunnel and wondered why the city has not pursued that with more enthusiasm.” His post goes on to observe that the length of Waller Creek tunnel is roughly the same length to get from I-35 to Lamar Blvd, thereby indicating that an identical tunnel for similar cost could support a subway to traverse east – west through downtown.